I was on a European vacation, and the weather was colder than anticipated so I needed a coat…read more Stopped in Cotswold of London (spur of the moment) and purchased a jacket for the remainder of my trip. It's a Patagonia jacket, very lightweight and usable in Florida's unsually chilly nights. My friend also bought an Osprey brand backpack. Good quality store.

It's always nice to see a sport store anywhere you go. This is a chain store here in England. It's…read morelike a small REI which is 3 stories but small.

Avoid ordering online I would advise against ordering from…read moreBlacks website unless you are prepared to be out of pocket when trying to return items. Blacks take no responsibility for returns and despite the fact that I have received email confirmation from Blacks that my return was received by the company and after waiting for my money for over 14 working days, they are now asking me to deal with the company handling returns. I believe that once I have received a confirmation of my returns, it should not be on customers to handle Blacks' internal issues with the third party handling returns. It's a very frustrating experience, so unless you know the size and are sure of the quality of the product, do not buy from their site.

The shop is fine, but had a bad experience with one of the staff who was oddly hostile when I took…read more15 minutes to choose my jacket. Came over out of nowhere to comment that I could keep on trying jackets until they close if I like. Almost walked out without purchasing. The gentleman behind the counter was just fine, but make me not want to return.

Terrible experience, discriminatory staff…read more I visited the store last week to try on ski boots and was told to come back later as the trained staff were on their breaks, so I returned after a few hours and was denied entry by the security guard. Staff told me the guard had received a picture of me from a CCTV camera at another nearby store - I do not even live in London, and had arrived the previous day. They showed me the photo, and the person in it was obviously not me - this would have been easy for the guard and staff to see if they looked at it properly, but it was apparent to me that I had been profiled and was being discriminated against. None of the staff were interested in what I had to say - the store manager was less than 2 metres away from me throughout this incident, but they had their back turned the whole time, clearly not wanting to be involved. I had heard good things about this store, but I only had my time wasted, and walked out feeling humiliated and upset. I emailed customer service about this over a week ago and my complaint was forwarded to multiple managers of the business straight away. I am only writing this public review now because I am yet to receive a single further response. Unacceptable on all counts.

This is the best place in London to come for all your outdoor gear needs. Set over 4 or 5 floors…read morethere is dedicated floor space to everything you will need for sports ranging from skiing to high altitude mountaineering. For me, nowhere in London has anything like its selection. The only real downside is that all the gear is skewed towards higher end products which is fine if you want to splash the cash but means that you can leave here having spent a worrying amount of money on day glow boots or GoreTex jackets.

In my view, the best army surplus and camping shop in London. I'm a regular customer, having bought…read moreeverything from walking boots and gloves to jackets and waterproofs, over a period of 15 years. (They used to be based near Victoria, but moved a few years ago to Waterloo Cut). As well as the usual range of army-surplus type gear - jackets, vests, shirts and trousers, they do a good line in MA1 flying jackets (£25), Harrington Jackets in a range of colours (and at £19.95, rather than inflated 'retro' prices) and of course foot-wear. They also sell used gear, but most items are brand new, and at their prices there's no need to go down the second hand route. I recently bought a pair of brand new British Army boots here for under £50, which are superbly comfortable (in fact I'm wearing them as I write this) and will doubtless last for years. The shop is very small, very old-fashioned, and run by two amazingly helpful brothers as a family business. They have a very loyal customer base - when I was there recently, they had a regular from Canada buying a pair of desert boots. If they haven't got an item in stock, they will order it in and call you when it's in, but they equally won't pressure you if you decide against a purchase. They'll also give you honest advice if you ask for it - they know their stock. The rise of the internet has seen the death of many traditional army surplus and camping shops, but Waterloo Camping is a one of survivors. If you want excellent value, traditional army surplus gear (and more besides), this is the place to go.

I also found it a good shop with a friendly proprietor, lots of action in a very cramped space full…read moreof interesting stuff (lady from Young Vic across the road was stocking up on props) at good prices and excellent good quality. Got my son a great trenchcoat much better quality, warmth and price than Oxford St and he was fascinated by gasmasks, etc.

This is a large store specialising in camping gear, out door gadgets, climbing, and snowboarding/…read moreskiing clothing and accessories. I found their best products to be out doors gadgets like The Meteotronic Weather Forecast hand held device which provides a professional weather- pretty useful for £40. This store could give you some great ideas for what to get Dad for Christmas/ birthday. In fashion wise... I find the clothes and colours to be quite plain jane, practical but not very attractive.

Pricey, but well worth it because of the personal service and the vast selection…read more On day 2 in London it was clear that the shoes that worked for me in Dallas would NOT work at all in London. I hobbled in, barely able to walk, ad in great pain from shows that had become too tight from all the walking I had done. I left nearly pain free, in shoes that not only supported and housed my swollen aching feet, but also corrected my tendency to pronate. It took trying 10 pairs and about 50 minutes to find the shows I needed, and In that time I realized how deeply knowledgeable staff was about hair products and issues customers have with their feet. I was so blessed to find such an experienced and helpful employee. My London adventure was almost at an end before it really began!

The people here are wonderfully helpful and friendly and shop is well maintained and stocked. A…read morevery nice experience!

Awesome selection of all gear for hiking, leisure etc. Liked the layout of the store and sizes were…read moreall available.

Clearly, this is the running store in Cork. They carry all kinds of top-notch, serious, running…read moreshoes, as well as hydration packs, clothing, and hats.

Whether you're a beginner or a pro, runners need is your playground!…read more For beginners, their experienced staff provide you with a gait analysis to give clarity towards which type of shoe is best for you. It's a very unique part as with the wrong shoe, injuries can occur and stop you performing. This process is all performed on one of their treadmills and video cameras. They store has such a wide range of shoes, I challenge anyone to not find a shoe that feels good in here! They also stock all the equipment you can imagine. Loads of clothes, water bottles etc. It's a one stop shop for all your requirements. In Holborn, the staff are great and very helpful. They've all been there do they know how daunting it can be to start. Ryan, who is the manager is very experienced when it comes to running and another team member, Danielle, is also really helpful. Whether you run or your just looking for a new pair of walking or gym shoes, check it out!

The North Face here on Southampton Street in Covent Garden, London is a fairly nice branch of the…read morechain, of course only selling own brand products. The location is in central London, Covent Garden, fairly close to the likes of Honest Burgers and Apple is pretty handy. The store is a decent size, it's average and has a satisfactory selection of most "summer" North Face gear, visiting in April you'd expect to see away with the winter clothing, but for an outdoor store I was surprised and disappointed at how little they had to support the cold, outdoor climates, the jackets they did have tended to be windproof or showerproof, rather than completely waterproof. I understand it's going into winter, but one would expect more of a range especially with this store being an outdoor store, which even the staff member I spoke to agreed with me on. The staff here seemed really friendly, I had a short conversation about football and the in-store product range with a cool guy that worked here. The prices seemed a little higher again, but this is a brand people pay for if you're looking for more of a bargain and perhaps more "outdoorsy" products, perhaps an outlet store is your best bet, yet sadly they are always out of town and hard to get to, the nearest outlet store to this one is at London Designer Outlet opposite Wembley Stadium, even that seems to be a fairly small store. A decent store with helpful, friendly staff yet only a satisfactory, and slightly poor product range. 3*

I'm not a huge fan of North Face, purely for aesthetic reasons, I find in comparison to other Out…read moreDoor clothes, their range is quite plain and dull. However I was happy to find that they had some Bright Green boarding trousers, which seem to brighten the shop up a bit! I went in the winter, and Upstairs was mainly snowboarding/ skiing gear and downstairs, they had a good range of camping gear. The prices, were about average for such products.

While greeted at the door, once on the floor that held my purchase, no one was there to assist…read more There were several other shoppers also in need of assistance.

Lillywhites in Piccadilly Circus, London is a large sports shop, which is much to my surprise owned…read moreby Sports Direct in central London (not too far away from their own large, flagship branch which is less popular on Yelp in terms of the number of reviews). It is located in a fairly old building and the only disabled/wheelchair entrance due to the oddly shaped step going into the store is the offputting, dirty, back "staff entrance" I have long avoided this store as its name Llilywhites is associated with Tottenham Hotspur FC - I stupidly thought this was actually their club shop until I noticed a sign which confused me "The world's finest sports store", after doing some research later I found the name comes from the family which used to own and run the store, located at 25 Regent St since the year of 1925 - it is nice to see it is still in its' original old building, which surely must be Grade listed by now - fairly impressive for a sports shop and especially considering it is now owned by the UK's largest sports retailer, for them to keep the original branding including the website (same website as Sports Direct just with the Lilywhites logo), despite other branches in other cities changing hands such as Leeds, Newcastle and Nottingham. It seems despite seeming to be a higher-end brand the overall store feel and layout is the same - and that includes the staff who didn't seem friendly or helpful by any means to struggling disabled customers or just shoppers looking to find something. It is over multiple floors and does have a decent selection, however. Is it as good as Sports Direct's flagship central London location? No, of course not - other than keeping the brand name it seems the store which seemed so historic and cool has become a boring branded store in every other regard, it's just a more expensive Sports Direct without improved quality/service etc. 2* - For the store size and location, nothing else.